The Radiance
by RavenRose8
Summary: War is scary and is hell itself. But there is something seen as worse than war for some people. Coming out to their parents. Ruby Rose has faced war, led soldiers and killed. All before reaching the age of eighteen, but what scared her the most was coming out to her mother and her fiancée's mother. How will it go? (Winter x Ruby.)


" _Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."_

― _Lao Tzu_

 **The Radiance**

The day had been coming for years, ever since that first Vytal festival which she had been a part of and where they had first met.

While it started off slightly rocky, especially with her uncle fighting her in front of all the schools as soon as she arrived.

But after that something seemed to come from it all. It first started with a need to relieve stress and a worthy opponent in order to do so.

At the same time, someone else. A red themed girl was training, not for the tournament but instead to better herself at the same time.

Winter Schnee, angry at what had happened inside Ozpin's office needed some sort of stress relief and what better way to do that than fighting against the man's niece who seemed to have a similar fighting style to the man himself.

But when she fought against the younger woman, much to her frustration they fought to a draw as neither could gain the upper hand. But to this day she still couldn't work out how the younger girl managed to stay on par with her, an Atlas Specialist.

After their training match, where they both fought to near exhaustion they turned to see a crowd gathering, which included Ozpin, Ironwood, Glynda and of course Qrow who was beaming that her niece could also keep par with Winter.

From that point on things seemed to spiral out of control, with the tournament ramping up faster Ruby and Winter saw each other more as Weiss went onto the doubles and eventually through to the singles.

The pair also continued to spar most days when they could, even going on through the night as well. This was mainly because Winter was determined to beat Ruby and Ruby's side was the fact she just wanted to train more with someone different.

Than everything went to shit. Cinder Fall and the White Fang made their move during the festival, once more using the Grimm to attack but this time the creatures of evil were much stronger.

A large battle with the twelve members of the main three Hunter/Huntress in training teams alongside Qrow and Winter with the Atlas military supporting them fought against the seemingly endless army of Grimm attacking the city.

They were barely able to hold out against them with a large number of casualties but they held out against them. But it was what came after that almost broke them all.

The White Fang, who had masterminded the attack of the Grimm with the help of Cinder, Roman and Adam to do it. They attacked immediately afterwards, catching them at their weakest.

This failed as Ruby Rose had stepped up, tired and wounded from fighting the Grimm she had stepped up in a way that didn't seem to surprise Ozpin whatsoever.

With Ruby's leadership coupled with her loss of her childhood innocence in the face of death happening all around her, it meant she was brutal and almost merciless in her actions but she still offered any White Fang member the chance to surrender and a fair trial, which she enforced with the same brutal way she waged war.

However throughout fighting the Grimm and White Fang she always said there was no single hero during the fighting. This was best shown in one of her more famous quotes.

" _There'll be no rest, there'll be no love, and there'll be no hero in the end who will rise above."_

Winter remembered that particular interview during the war, when Ruby had that rare chance for a small break, if only to go back right to the fighting as she spoke to the media.

Ruby had the backing of Ozpin and all of Beacon and surprisingly enough that of Ironwood as well, with that came the backing of the other Kingdoms as well.

With that, Ruby had kept close ties with her team as she almost always fought by their sides when she could, except when she couldn't because she was off fighting somewhere else.

The White Fang dominated the forest around Vale and being largely offensive in their meant that they were on the defensive until a sudden change occurred when Ruby killed Roman in battle.

During the fighting however, upon request from Ironwood but also her own decision as well Winter became a sort of unofficial bodyguard for Ruby until Ironwood asked her to, while Ruby made a lot of noise about it at first in the end she had to accept it as Winter wouldn't stop.

The war lasted a year, a year together in close proximity to each other and feelings already being present in the first place if a little unknown to either party.

Ruby would barely sleep during this time, feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders and scared of failing in such shame that it meant the end for a lot of innocent people.

Winter kept her grounded a lot of the time, especially with looking after herself which she would more often than not forget to do, which was rather surprising for the woman who was rather uptight and almost rude when they first met, to now suddenly care about the younger woman.

The war finally came to an end, not in a climax large scale battle of life or death where one side would be completely wiped out if the other won but instead in something much smaller.

Ruby and her team alongside Winter and JNPR with a select squad of soldiers managed to push into the heart of the enemy to the point where they were able to fight the commanders of the enemy.

While Winter fought Adam, and the others the other low level commanders including Emerald and Mercury. Ruby fought Cinder one on one, the end result of the battle was Winter killing Adam by driving her two blades into his heart,

But what was most brutal was how Ruby fought against Cinder, while the White Fang had lost their leader, Cinder would have still been able to control them in order to fight but this ended with Ruby removing her head from her body.

With their leaders either dead or having surrendered, they broke allowing the Atlas military to move in and clear up. Capturing those who surrendered or killing those that carried on fighting.

At the end of all of the fighting and with a surprising push from a woman who was on the other side, but turned when her employer died. She had commented on how the two seemed together.

After the war, and even though she was now famous Ruby had finished her Huntress training to become a fully trained Huntress, even though she was offered a complete pass of her training she still felt she had much to learn.

Once she graduated she started going on hunts as the Grimm were still very much alive and kicking. She kept in close contact with her team after the fighting, with Blake changing from fighting to become a diplomat for the Faunus as waves of new rights came into play.

However the biggest factor in this change was the death of Willow Schnee, the father of Weiss and Winter, but also the head of the Schnee Company. His death was from a single high calibre sniper bullet, but no trace was ever found of the shooter and it was ruled as an assassination by a hired gun.

With his death came Mizu Schnee becoming the first female Schnee to ever run the company, who enforced new rules and changes that made Faunus workers equal and offered all of them chances at different jobs.

She gave her two daughter's positions on the board of directors as well, meaning that they had votes in major decisions in the company.

What continued however was a relationship between general and bodyguard. A few months after the war officially ended and with some sudden realisations Ruby Rose and Winter Schnee began dating, in secret as while the world was getting better at equality for all, they were unsure about coming out as they were two rather famous people in the world now.

Not even their friends or family knew, all they thought was they were close friends who had experienced the same horror of wars, as it was no secret that Ruby had vivid nightmares. So much so that she had to have her own room at Beacon because of it and on constant medicine for PTSD that she suffered from now.

One good thing that came out of that war for Ruby however was the discovery of her mother's fate, she discovered that her mother was sent on a deep cover mission into the White Fang but was caught and in the end captured by them.

When the war ended though she discovered her mother was still alive, held by the White Fang to torture information out of whenever they needed to.

Leading a rescue mission she managed to save her mother and steadily over months of medical treatments and therapy was back to Ruby once more.

While Summer suffered from PTSD as her daughter did, she was able to find comfort in an old friend. Mizu Schnee who she knew of old and seemed to be a happy source for her to continue living on as she lived in the Schnee mansion with her.

Now, having lived together for a number of years and been dating for many years Ruby had proposed to Winter in their small flat they owned together. Winter still working for the Atlas military but having taken a less involved role in training people while Ruby carried on being a Huntress.

Winter immediately said yes, however both of them knew that they had to tell their families of the relationship and now about the wedding as well.

So what better time to do it than at the annual Schnee ball, which was held every year in memory of the war but only by those close friends and family. So RWBY, JNPR, Ozpin, Glynda, Ironwood, Qrow and a select few others would all be there to celebrate ten years since the end of the war.

"You are not wearing a suit." Winter stated, having the same argument with Ruby she has every time they attend.

"But I don't like dresses!" Ruby replied back.

"Yes you do. You say this every year but you love wearing dresses." Winter replied back teasingly. "Now what do you think? White, blue or something else?" Winter asked, holding up a couple of different dresses.

"Why not red?" Ruby suggested.

"You say that every year as well…Wait that might be a good idea." Winter said, changing her mind halfway through.

"I know I suggest it, but you'd look good in red." Ruby said, replying what she said as well every year.

"You aren't listening to me are you?" Winter tested.

"Of course I am." Ruby said, completely lost in searching through her side of the wardrobe for a dress.

"Oh really? What did I just say?" Winter asked.

"Um…" Ruby said.

"Exactly. I said I'll wear a red dress this year." Winter said.

"Really? Why the sudden change?" Ruby asked, turning to face Winter.

"Well if we're announcing we're together this year, then maybe wearing your colour might give them a hint." Winter replied.

"Ah yeah, maybe." Ruby said awkwardly.

"You forgot didn't you?" Winter asked.

"No…maybe…kind of hoping you had forgotten." Ruby replied back with a smile.

Sighing Winter turned to Ruby, pulling her close, "We can't keep it a secret forever. If and this is a very big if, they don't accept us than we are more than capable of living independently." Winter replied, pulling Ruby into a deep kiss.

Melting into the kiss Ruby seemed to relax and say, "I know, still doesn't stop the nervousness." Ruby added.

"No, but we'll get through this. We got through the Grimm and White Fang. Telling a couple people we're lesbians isn't that hard, is it?" Winter said.

"I'd rather face an army of Grimm than you're mother." Ruby mumbled to herself as she turned away to pull out a long black dress.

"What was that?" Winter asked teasingly.

"Nothing my darling fiancée." Ruby replied back cheekily.

"Hmm." Winter hummed as she went about taking out her red dress she owned and proceeded to get changed.

Winter and Ruby had similar tastes in outfit, but whereas Winter's would show a big more cleavage than Ruby's both revealed their backs and arms.

On Ruby's back was a rather large rose tattoo with a Grim Reaper underneath to symbolise the nickname the media had given her. _The Rose Reaper_.

But on her arms were names. The names of all those that had died under her command. The writing was small but there was almost a hundred names on the underside of her wrist and going along her arm. When asked why she did this, she simply said so she would never forget their sacrifice but there was another reason.

At the height of her nightmares while alone at Beacon she would cut herself as a release, and keep the lines hidden underneath long sleeves. When Winter was visiting her one time she noticed but instead of getting angry or mentioning it directly she instead suggested something else.

She knew Ruby kept a diary with the names of all those that had died, so she suggested getting their names along her arm so she could remember them each time.

This was on her life, while on her right held a rose and a Schnee snowflake mixing together on her wrist with her own name and Winter's name written together on there.

Her dress was a strapless black dress with some white highlights down the sides and it reached down just past her knees.

Whereas Winter's was strapless as well and open at the back, but a deep red colour that stopped just above her knees and revealed a little more than Ruby's did.

With them both dressed they put on some light make-up, Winter choosing white lipstick and black eyeshadow with Ruby doing the same but black lipstick instead.

Finally all dressed up in heels they were ready to leave, but there was a debate over what to take to the party.

"We can't take your bike. It'll ruin our dresses." Winter stated.

"It'll be fine, really." Ruby countered.

"No. We're taking the car." Winter said firmly.

"Fine. But I get to drive." Ruby replied.

"Deal." Winter said with a large smile, handing the keys to the sports care to Ruby.

Ruby drove the rather expensive sports car almost as fast as her bike, except for the fact that Winter got her to slow down a bit as she felt they were going too fast.

Eventually arriving at the Schnee mansion they already discovered some people had arrived already so when they parked and went inside the party was in full swing.

Before they entered however Winter turned to Ruby, who was wearing a pair of sunglasses on her face hiding her eyes from view, as she always did when out in public.

"You can't go in like that. Everyone already knows." Winter said gently.

"I know, but I can't help it." Ruby replied.

"It'll be fine. No one will judge in there." Winter said, gently removing the sunglasses to reveal Ruby's right eye which was her natural silver but her left however had a small scar going across the eye, hidden partly by some treatments but Ruby refused to remove all traces of the scar.

But the eye had been lost so was now replaced with a fully working fake eye, the only problem was the colour couldn't do silver as it was such a rare colour that instead she had chosen blue as it was a more natural colour.

Saying hello to their respective mothers first, they began to mingle a little and talk with some of those there.

They started with catching up a little with Weiss, who had still kept up being a Huntress but divided her team between that and helping her mother run the company. She was there with Blake who managed to get some time off as well and told them about how boring her time seemed to be now and was taking up more hunts now than before to kill the time.

One of the last to arrive was Yang who came into the party loudly as she did, Yang strangely enough helped train new Hunters and Huntresses as well as performing hunts with team JNPR, who would also be teaching as well but mainly on hunts.

They caught up happily and talked for almost an hour about what they had been doing, with Pyrrha and Jaune finally being together and so were Nora and Ren, although they had no kids yet.

Moving on the pair went to speak with Ozpin and Glynda, although that was a little brief and it seemed Ozpin had a weird glint in his eyes this year for some reason.

Next they spoke to Ironwood, who was still rather formal but had relaxed a little bit over the years. They spoke more about the peace and Grimm activity, although Winter attempted to keep them away from talking about work but failing in doing so.

They said a brief hello to Qrow, who already had a drink in his hands and was clearly not his first, though they spoke briefly over getting to spar again with each other and promises to meet up to spar.

Finally they came to the odd one out in the party, she was invited and came every year with everyone knowing why she was there and her contribution to the war.

Neopolitan was almost like a hired gun in a way but now she had trained as a Huntress instead, when Roman died Neo had no reason to serve the other side so in return for a full pardon. Or even without one she offered up information on everything in the war letting them end it those few months maybe even a year earlier.

They had strangely become close friends with Neo being able to work out their secret before they even realised their feelings for each other.

"Show me." Neo said as soon as they came over.

Already guessing that she knew Winter showed her hand that proudly displayed her ring to the woman.

"That's amazing." Neo commented, the diamond having been somehow changed so it was a mixture of red and white, the colours constantly moving around inside the gem and it was placed on a simple silver ring.

"It is. She surprised me with it a week ago. No one's noticed, I think maybe Ozpin has but that's it." Winter said.

"Well that is surprising but I guess you can't help that they don't notice. Have you told anyone yet?" Neo asked.

"Not yet. We're going to speak to our mothers now and well, tell everyone then." Ruby replied.

"Well good a plan as any. Good luck." Neo said, giving both women a short hug before letting them move on.

Holding tightly onto Winter's hand, Ruby could feel herself getting worked up and nervous at simply the prospect of speaking to her own mother, something that hadn't happened since those first few days when she found her again.

"Relax sweetie. It'll be fine, it's only our mothers. It's not like it's my father." Winter commented.

"I know." Ruby replied, closing her eyes, and taking a deep breath before opening her eyes once more with a determination that Winter hasn't seen for years. "Ok." Ruby said.

Smiling Winter calmly took Ruby over to where their two mothers were speaking with each other, grabbing their attention the pair stood in front of them.

"Mother, we've got something to tell you." Winter said, gaining their attention.

"What is it dear?" Mizu asked kindly.

"Um well you see, me and Winter." Ruby stated saying.

"Winter and I." Winter corrected teasingly to try and ease Ruby's nervousness.

"Winter and I. Well we've sort of been seeing each other. For like nine years, I mean romantically seeing each other not just seeing each other every day because we live together." Ruby said awkwardly in a rush of words. "And well I sort of proposed a few weeks ago and she said yes, so we're getting married and we hope to have your blessing." Ruby blurted out all in a rush immediately afterwards.

Shock was the first emotion on the faces of the two women before realisation dawned on them, being in the business of Huntress and CEO of a company they were able to take a lot in their stride but this seemed to shock them before their minds thought back to everything they had seen.

The way the two always shared a bed, claiming that it was comforting for Ruby who suffered from nightmares, although not regularly nowadays but she still suffered with them.

How the two would always keep in contact everyday no matter where they were, the smiles shared between them and how comfortable they both were with each other.

This dawned on the two women quickly and hit them like a brick wall at how obvious it all was now that they knew. As they came back into present time though they saw Ruby's absolutely terrified face, something the woman never had during the war no matter what but simply this prospect of telling them terrified her.

Acting quickly as they realised there concerns they had Summer was quickly to say, "It's so obvious now that we look at it. Of course you both have our blessings. It's clear that you both love each other, and you're our daughters so of course we'd accept you no matter what." Summer said, bringing both younger women into a tight hug.

Mizu following soon after, echoing Summer's words before asking the pair a number of questions pertaining to the ensuring wedding, which they couldn't answer.

Soon after they told the assembled guests, much to Neo's amusement as she called out, "About damn time." To a few laughs around the room, nut they were all supportive. Even Ironwood who they thought was unlikely to support them said some words of acceptance to them although he left soon after.

Eventually when the pair returned home in the earlier hours of the next day they were completely exhausted, physically and emotionally from the sheer weight of what they had revealed but also because of the support they didn't expect.

"I love you." Winter said as they crawled into their shared bed pulling Ruby into a hug.

"I love you too, now and forever." Ruby replied, kissing Winter before they fell asleep.

 **A/N**

 **So after seeing that episode I got a random idea, which then transformed into this. I've actually sort of written a story with this pairing but I stop and start it so often now that I doubt it'll ever come out.**

 **Anyway coming out is always something interesting, I don't have much experience with this except for telling my brother and sister something personal and well that went good, maybe because of the circumstances around it but anyway that's old news.**

 **So I would love to see some prompts for one-shots with this pairing, because I rather like Winter and Ruby together. (Oh and that story idea I mentioned is called Red Blizzard.) But if not for this pairing than perhaps prompts for RubyxNeo, RubyxWinter or RubyxBlake as I'm tempted to try my hand at those two.**

 **Anyway that's about it, so thanks for reading and until next time. ^_^**


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